First Attempt at Cutting Boards

I’ve always wanted to make cutting boards etc. Finally got around to making a couple end grain cutting boards, learned how to not feed the work piece into the planner…. lesson learned and wont make that mistake again. But had a lot of fun and plan to make many more.

Pretty doggone good for your first attempt. Keep going. You learned early that the end grain itself can be part of the design, in addition to the color and sequence.

I have planned EVERY end grain board I’ve ever made. When I make the final glue-up, I glue some scrap, sacrificial ends on the board. Granted, I take off very little with each pass through the planer. The sacrificial ends get all the split-outs and leave the real board unharmed. Then I crosscut the sacrificial ends off and run the board through the drum sander to get the planer marks off. My Festool 6” sander does the rest.

Anyone who tells you that you can’t plane end grain didn’t think of my technique. It works every time. I’ve never had a failure.

Great boards. Funny you mention not feeding end-grain pieces into the planer. I recently restored a garage-sale cutting board. It had cracks I had to cut out so I figured running the 1/2s through the planer would be the best way to get rid of the dishing. Lots of tear out on the ends. It worked out ok because I wanted to square it off, but I also learned that lesson.